United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Thursday as many as 2.5 million people were in need of aid in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been fighting rebels seeking his overthrow for 17 months.Amos, speaking in Syria where she met prime minister Wael al-Halki and other officials this week, urged government forces and rebels to do more to protect civilians caught up in the violence.
‘Over a million people have been uprooted and face destitution. Perhaps a million more have urgent humanitarian needs due to the widening impact of the crisis on the economy and people’s livelihoods,’ she told reporters in Damascus.
‘Back in March, we estimated that a million people were in need of help. Now as many as 2.5 million are in need of assistance and we are working to update our plans and funding requirements.’
Amos said she met displaced families in Damascus and the town of Nabk northeast of the capital who were housed in public buildings and schools, which are due to reopen next month.
Syrians flee to Turkey after deadly Aazaz air strike
Carrying bags of clothes and boxes of food on their heads, hundreds of Syrians are fleeing to Turkey after a massive Syrian air strike on the northern rebel bastion of Aazaz, reports AFP.
Wednesday’s bombing flattened a string of houses and killed at least 46 people, with a Syrian watchdog reporting 31 killed and 200 more wounded and Turkey saying another 15 had died in its hospitals after crossing the border.
‘That’s it, I’ve had it. Nobody should have to live with this kind of fear in his heart. How could my children go to sleep if we didn’t leave,’ said Abu Alaa, an Aazaz resident in his mid-40s.
Entire families could be seen filing past the immigration office at the crossing point into the Turkish town of Kilis.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ he said, shouting orders at his children and other relatives packed in the back of a pick-up truck.
Others walked from Aazaz with their belongings and were equally adamant they could no longer remain in their hometown, which lies just a few kilometres from the border with Turkey.